Conservation Tips

Leaks Cost Money

There are many ways that our customers can help conserve our precious water supply. One main way is to watch for leaks in and around your home. To check for leaks in your water line, please take the following steps:

Make sure all water is turned off in your house

Go to the water meter and lift lid

Wipe face of meter & look at leak detector in the meter (usually a triangle)

IF this is moving at all, there is water going through the meter indicating a leak

Go back into the house & turn off the main water valve going into the house

Check the meter/leak detector again. IF it’s still moving, the leak is in your line between the house and the meter

Water costs money….don’t waste it! Look at how a continuous leak from very small holes of various sizes wastes water and costs you money!

15 Ways To Conserve Water

Wasting water is a waste of our most wonderful natural resource. Wasting water also costs you money as you see above. We would like to provide you several tips on how you can conserve water.

CHECK YOUR TOILET FOR LEAKSPut a few drops of food coloring in you toilet tank. If, without flushing, the coloring begins to appear in the bowl, you have a leak that may be wasting more than 100 gallons of water a day. Fix it.

PUT A PLASTIC BOTTLE IN YOUR TOILET TANKPut an inch or two of sand or pebbles in the bottom of a quart bottle to weigh it down. Fill the rest of the bottle with water and put it in your toilet tank, safely away from the operating mechanism. In an average home, the bottle may save five gallons or more of water every day without harming the efficiency of the toilet.

TAKE A SHORTER SHOWERA typical shower uses five to ten gallons of water per minute. Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash and rinse off.

INSTALL WATER-SAVING SHOWER HEADSYour hardware or plumbing supply store stocks inexpensive shower heads or flow restrictors that will cut your shower flow up to three gallons a minute instead of five to ten.

TAKE BATHSA partially filled tub uses less water than all but the shortest showers.

TURN OFF THE WATER WHILE BRUSHING YOUR TEETHBefore brushing, wet your brush and fill a glass for rinsing your mouth.

TURN OFF THE WATER WHILE SHAVINGFill the bottom of the sink with a few inches of warm water in which to rinse your razor.

CHECK FAUCETS AND PIPES FOR LEAKSEven a small drip can waste 50 or more gallons of water per day!

USE AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER FOR FULL LOADS ONLYEvery time you run your dishwasher, you use up to 25 gallons of water.

USE YOUR WASHING MACHINE FOR FULL LOADS ONLYYour automatic washer uses 30 to 35 gallons a cycle. Too much for a few shirts.

KEEP DRINKING WATER REFRIGERATEDThis puts a stop to the wasteful practice of running tap water to cool it for drinking.

DON'T LEAVE WATER RUNNING TO RINSE DISHESIf you have two sinks, fill one with rinse water. If you have only one sink, first gather all your washed dishes in a dish rack, then rinse them quickly with a spray device or a pan of water.

WATER YOUR LAWN ONLY WHEN IT NEEDS ITWatering on a regular schedule doesn't allow for cool spells or rainfall which reduce the need for watering. Step on some grass. If it springs back up when you move your foot, it doesn't need water.

PLANT DROUGHT-RESISTANT TREES AND PLANTSMany beautiful trees and plants thrive without irrigation in the limited rainfall of our semiarid region.

PUT A LAYER OF MULCH AROUND TREES AND PLANTSMulch slows the evaporation of moisture.